Editor: I am a Surrey resident of 52 years. I have lived in Surrey all my life. In fact, today I live one mile from where I grew up.
I am very fond of Surrey, most particularly the Clayton Hill/Cloverdale area.
I began to do my candidate research early, as we have a federal election scheduled for the fall of 2015, and in Surrey and Langley, a new riding has been created — Cloverdale-Langley City.
The Conservative nomination race in the Cloverdale-Langley City riding has, to date, five candidates. (Editor’s note — A sixth candidate has just entered the race).
Of the five, only one lives in the riding and has for more than 25 years. One other candidate has just moved, to call it his riding. The others do not.
I urge each and every concerned constituent to do their homework. Find out everything they can about the candidates. Who they are? What they stand for? Most important, what is their involvement in our community. Do they really have this riding at heart?
When I go to the polls and vote, it’s going to be for someone who has lived here.
I support someone who reaches out and gets involved in community events — such as The Terry Fox Run, Red Cross Blood Donor Clinics and Special Olympics, just to name a few. He is someone who has seniors at heart and gets involved with non-profit, low-cost senior housing. I am going to throw my support behind Mike Garisto. He believes in the Cloverdale-Langley City riding.
He has lived here for some 25 years and continues to be a voice for my community of 52 years.
It is a community that I am proud to call home.
Jean Van Zanten,
Cloverdale